


Words of Love

by Severina



Category: Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
Genre: Community: hc_bingo, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-24
Updated: 2013-11-24
Packaged: 2018-01-02 12:19:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1056687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severina/pseuds/Severina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He tries to make it a tough-sounding whimper, like a grunting through the pain kind of thing that McClane would do, but despite his best efforts it comes out sounding a bit like a puppy who's been left outside in the rain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Words of Love

**Author's Note:**

> Written for LJ's hc_bingo community, for the Wild Card prompt (which I filled with the prompt 'bullet wounds')
> 
> * * *

They have side by side beds in the emergency room, and Matt is more than aware that John's body suffered a hell of a lot more damage than his. Not only did McClane jump from a moving police car and dangle from an SUV, he also – if the stories that are drifting in from the news crews outside are true – actually jumped from a damaged jet fighter and lived to tell the tale. Lived, in fact, to not only beat up the bad guys some more but also shoot himself in the shoulder in order to end the whole thing.

So yeah, McClane is basically a legend. And Matt's measly little bullet wound in the calf should be nothing compared to that.

Except the morphine shot that the really stupendously awesome (and kind of cute) paramedic gave him in the ambulance wore off about thirty minutes ago. And they won't give him another one, because they need to see his pain threshold or some such bullshit in order to determine the damage. Of course he hasn't seen any sign of someone from the medical profession since the intern glanced at his knee an hour ago and then wandered off. 

Doctors suck. 

And his leg is really, really sore.

Matt sucks in a breath through his teeth, clenches the sides of the thin cot until his knuckles turn white. It doesn't help. Finally he has to whimper. Just a little. He tries to make it a tough-sounding whimper, like a grunting through the pain kind of thing that McClane would do, but despite his best efforts it comes out sounding a bit like a puppy who's been left outside in the rain.

"Jeeeezus, kid," John says. "Somebody killin' ya over there?"

Matt bites down on the next whimper that tries to escape, turns his head in time to see McClane whip back the flimsy curtain that separates their beds. Matt doesn't even know how the dude is walking let alone looking so goddamn spry in spite of all his cuts and bruises. He struggles to sit up straighter on the bed – because seriously if John can walk around surely he can _sit_ – but the movement sends a spiral of pain through his leg and makes him gasp and grab onto the bedframe to keep from toppling over.

He shakes damp hair out of his eyes, sees John cock his head toward his leg. "It that bad?"

"Picture your bones being broken and then threaded through a paper shredder while two hungry wolves simultaneously tug on each end. Then maybe--" Matt holds up a shaking finger, " _maybe_ , McClane – you can start to imagine what my calf feels like right now."

He fully expects John to snort, or to roll his eyes, or to launch into some speech about bucking up, growing some balls and being a man. Maybe throw out his own injuries as proof that it's not that fucking bad. But instead John scrubs his chin with his hand and says, "Huh."

Matt's still pondering this unprecedented answer when John strides out into the long curtained hallway that separates all the cots and starts yelling for a doctor. Matt only catches the part about "saving the goddamn country while you sit on your sorry asses drinking a fuckin' latte" before John's voice fades out as he gets further away. But he has no doubt that John will be back shortly, with a doctor in tow. Possibly two.

They may not be traditional but, listening to McClane's bellows, Matt realizes he's now able to pinpoint the exact moment he fell in love.


End file.
